Opening statements are scheduled Monday within the bribery trial of Nadine Menendez, whose prison-bound husband, former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, complained she was being handled unfairly by Manhattan federal prosecutors.
Nadine Menendez, 58, was initially scheduled to go to trial final 12 months together with the 71-year-old New Jersey Democrat, however a breast most cancers analysis and surgical procedure led to a delay in her case. She has pleaded not responsible to expenses that she participated within the bribery scheme leading to her husband’s conviction.
“My wife, who had breast cancer reconstructive surgery just days ago, is being forced by the government to go to trial tomorrow,” Bob Menendez mentioned final week on the social platform X earlier than jury choice passed off.
“Only the arrogance of the SDNY can be so cruel and inhumane,” Menendez added, referring to the Southern District of New York, the place her trial is going down. “They should let her fully recover!”
The previous senator was sentenced in late January to 11 years in jail after being convicted of accepting a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} in bribes from three New Jersey businessmen. Prosecutors mentioned that was in return for a wide range of favors, together with utilizing his affect to assist a few of them of their dealings with overseas governments, and he was additionally convicted of performing as a overseas agent for Egypt.
Menendez resigned his Senate seat after his conviction. A choose delayed the beginning of his jail time period till June 6 so he may attend his spouse’s trial.
All through his two-month trial, Nadine Menendez was talked about repeatedly for her dealings with the businessmen. Certainly one of them testified he purchased her a luxurious automobile after the senator tried to get New Jersey prosecutors to drop a felony investigation involving certainly one of his associates.
In 2022, FBI brokers raided the couple’s house in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and located over $100,000 in gold bars and greater than $480,000 money stuffed in envelopes, shoeboxes, jackets and boots.
Bob Menendez mentioned at trial that the gold belonged to his spouse and the money resulted from his behavior of hoarding cash after his mother and father fled Cuba in 1951 with solely what they’d hidden in a grandfather clock.
Menendez, who beat one other corruption prosecution a decade in the past, has aligned himself with Donald Trump’s criticisms of the judicial system, notably in New York Metropolis, and tagged the president in his March 17 criticism on X.
“This process is political, and it’s corrupted to the core,” he instructed reporters after his sentencing. “I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.”
